Identity crisis

FRAUDSTERS are making £1.3bn from stealing identities. And this could be happening to you now without your knowledge.

Two alarming news items this week highlighted just how vulnerable we all are to this invasive crime. First, Barclays sent out hundreds of confidential bank statements to the wrong people after a computer blunder.

Then the Fraud Advisory Panel issued a warning that information on your receipts from cash machines can help crooks forge dummy bank cards and raid your account.

Last year, identity fraud rose by 54% as more than 74,000 people's lives were wrecked by crooks getting loans, credit cards and other services in their names.

Yet, amazingly, it is still not a crime. It was only last month that the Government announced it intends to make it a criminal offence.

While muggings and burglaries can mean your passport, driving licence and other documents yield enough information for fraudsters to apply for credit in your name, they can also get their hands on your life in more innocuous ways.

Moving home, and even the contents of your rubbish bin, can give you away. Finance firms often send out preapproved credit applications with your details automatically filled in. If junk mail such as this falls into the wrong hands, you could be in for a shock.

Or they may only discover the fraud when they apply for credit themselves and are turned down because there is thousands of pounds owing in their name.'

This happened to lorry driver Jonathan Herman, 28, when he moved from a block of flats in Hertfordshire to West Mersea in Essex last year with his fiancee Jane Chuter.

The couple did all the right things: their names were taken off the electoral roll, the bank and utility companies were informed, and mail was redirected to their new address.

But a year later, they applied for a Barclaycard and were refused. As this was the second time they had been refused credit, despite a perfect payment history on previous loans, they rang to find out why. It turned out Barclaycard's records showed they had previously had a credit card and not paid a debt of £2,500. This was the first Jonathan knew about it.

He has banked with Barclays for 13 years and even though his bank statements were sent to his new address, someone claiming to be him had successfully applied for a Barclaycard six months after he had left his old address.

He was advised to report it to the police and to check his files with credit reference agencies.

He says: 'Someone had put my name back on the local electoral roll in Watford and applied for 25 credit cards in my name.

'Fortunately they had got the month of my birth wrong, otherwise they might have got a load of cards. They used Jane's name as well to apply for credit cards and got her birthday spot on.

'We had to report the fraud to the Watford police so we went to our old address and found a letter from a debt recovery company addressed in Jane's name but to Mr rather than Miss. They had set up a computer company in her name and run up a bill with BT.' Over the following months, the couple contacted all the companies who had logged searches on their credit files and got them removed.

Jonathan says: 'It takes five minutes to make an application but months to get it removed.

'A bad credit history is damaging, and not just when you want credit. People can check your credit files if you're going for a new job or renting accommodation.

'We were renting at the time and the landlord wanted to sell the flat. We could have ended up homeless if we hadn't spotted it in time. Fortunately, we had sorted it out before we bought our house in March.'

Now the couple have put their names on the Protective Register, run by Equifax on behalf of the Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance System (CIFAS). The CIFAS Protective Register's number is 0870 0102091. It means extra checks are made when any application for credit is made. It costs £11.75 a year.